New Knoxville Unveils Banner

November 17, 2011

NEW KNOXVILLE — In honor of the village’s 175th anniversary, a new record of the history of New Knoxville has been created.

A timeline, now on display in the village administration building, tracks the history of the village of New Knoxville, with a focus on the past 25 years.

“Typically there’s not a lot done for those odd years, and we wanted to make sure we did something because we have done some big things in the past 25 years,” Mayor Keith Leffel said, noting the improvements to the school and village water system. “We’ve seen significant growth in the village in the past 25 years compared to what we’ve seen previously. These 25 years for us have been really significant.”

Leffel noted that although the village has not done much to celebrate its 175th anniversary, tracking the history is important.

“The 175th (anniversary) is a midpoint,” Leffel said. “We wanted to make sure we captured what has happened in the past 25 years because some of the people that are here now won’t be here in 25 years.”

The timeline, created by Leffel and Jessie Katterheinrich, begins in 1836, when the village’s land was first platted. Leffel said the timeline captures the first 150 years of New Knoxville’s history with entries dated approximately 30 years apart before moving to yearly entries in 1986. The timeline also features a red stripe across the top that tracks world history.

“It’s important for us to lay it out to put it in perspective with what has happened around the world and in the village,” Leffel said.

Leffel looked to village organizations and businesses to gather information for the timeline.

“I asked each group and business in town to tell me what they did in the past 25 years,” Leffel said. “We asked them to give us a synopsis of what’s gone on.”

After Leffel and Katterheinrich gathered and sorted through the information, Katterheinrich designed the timeline.

Leffel encouraged the community to add events to the timeline that residents believe should have been on it or to notify him if they find a mistake.

“If anybody has anything they want to add, they can drop me a line or send me an e-mail,” he said, noting that one mistake has already been found, and Leffel said he challenges the community to find it.

Leffel noted that the timeline will be added to in the future to keep up with the happenings in the village.

“The idea is that every year we’ll add to this timeline so we have it for our 200th (anniversary),” he said.